Lie of a life
by Larka18
Summary: This a story about a jealous and manipulative lion, who wants nothing but a cub. This story is based in the pridelands, and is inspired by the lion king. a part of my GCSE coursework. some violence, but pretty mild, but young children may find it disturbi


Annie Larkin 4H

Lie of a life

It was a summer morning, as the sun rose and sent out its orange rays over the Serengeti plains of Africa. There was a tension in the air, a birth of something new. In a cave not far away lived a lion pride, ruled by a strong male called Mohlabani, and his mate, Lotola. In that morning there were two cubs born, both to this pride. The first one bore to Lotola and Mohlabani, a female cub that they named Monmai. The second bore to Eka, who was Molhabani's cousin. Although Eka bore a cub, it did not survive. Eka had bore many cubs in her past and all of them had died at birth, just like this one. Eka became more and more of a snappy, jealous and worn out old lioness, because of this. On this morning everyone was full of joy, all except one. Eka. Everyone huddled around the tanned lioness waiting to see the newborn cub. There were excited shouts of happiness as they saw a tiny brown bundle turn around in its mother's paws, to reveal itself. Monmai was a brown cub with a distinguishing black mark on her forehead, in the shape of a paw print. Her big eyes stared at all the giant lionesses standing around her, staring at her in awe. She looked up into the friendly, proud face of her mother, Lotola. All the lionesses looked proudly down at their future leader. Eka sat alone outside of the cave. She had perched herself on a warm rock, and was watching all the antelopes graze, as she pondered her life's dreams, and her past. Tears began to form in her eyes, but she snarled them away. Eka was a brown lioness, much like her cousin, but she had three stripes that went horizontally over her back. She had one green pupil and one brown pupil. As Eka stared over the plains, she saw an approaching lion in the distance. She knew that stance anywhere. It was her mate, Swetse, a rouge lion that was once a part of the pride, he now spends his days wandering alone, but he always returns to see Eka. Eka saw him approaching her, and she just solemnly placed her head back on her paws and watched the gazelles again, pretending not to notice his presence. "How's the cub?" Swetse's voice sent shivers down her spine. "What cub?" She replied, "Who's cub do you think?" Swetse said with slight anger in his voice. "Lotolas cub is in the den, you're welcome to go and see it if you like, if you can handle all the screaming from the other lionesses!"

"What about our cub?"

"Like all the others. Dead." That one word rung round Swetse's ears, and made them hurt. Tears were already forming in his eyes, but he knew how to control himself, he'd had this hurt before. "Oh, well. There's always next time, isn't there?"

"Next time? Next time! It's always next time with you, Swetse! Well guess what! There is no next time! I can't have cubs with someone like you! You're always running off, and coming back again! Why don't you just stay here? Then maybe we could have a real chance! You're lost Swetse! Face it!"

"Lost! I'm not lost!"

"Yes you are! If you weren't lost, then why do you keep coming back here? If you weren't lost you'd be off with another life!" Swetse just looked at his paws, he knew it was true, but he'd never admit it. Never. "I remember a time when you were gorgeous. Not just your looks, but also your personality. Now I see not the lioness I knew, but the lioness I never wanted to know. You've changed, and you've changed for the worse." And with a stern look at his love, Swetse turned and walked out of sight.

A few days had passed and not much had changed. Eka liked more time on her own, although she longed for the days of companionship. Lotola had barely left little Monmai alone, and it looked as if she's protect her with her life. This only made Eka more and more jealous. She wanted Monmai for her own, she wanted to hold her in her paws, she wanted to bond with her, she wanted Monmai to be her daughter, and she would do anything for her, anything. The days passed and the jelousy grew in Eka, until she couldn't bear it anymore, something had to be done. Eka had soon hatched her plan, and knew exactly what to do. One day Eka saw Mohlabani wandering around the plains. She padded up to him, and proceeded to talk. "So, I see you don't get a look in with Lotola anymore. I mean since the cubs arrival."

"What do you mean Eka?"

"I mean, you don't get anytime to spend with your beloved mate. Do you?"

"Well, I do."

"But not as much as you used to?"

"Well of course not, but we have a baby cub to look after, and she takes a considerable amount of Lotolas time."

"True, but doesn't it seem odd?"

"Odd? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're speaking about Eka."

"What I mean is, well wouldn't you get a chance to spend time with little Monmai? I mean you are the father, and the real father should spend time with his cub, and shouldn't you and Lotola be in this together?"

"We are Eka, but I'm afraid she's far to protective of Monmai to even let me near her, so I wander."

"Does wandering help anything?" Eka muttered so Mohlabani could only just hear. "What do you mean Eka?"

"I guess what I'm actually getting at is, well, you see…" Eka stuttered for a while. "Eka you're speaking all in riddles today. What is wrong?"

"Ok, I'm going to tell you, but you must take into account this is very hard for me to tell you this, but here it goes. If you were Monmai's real dad, wouldn't you, wouldn't you spend more time with her? And wouldn't Lotola let you see her? Have you even held her yet?" At these words Mohlabani froze in his tracks, he couldn't believe what he had just heard, but for some reason it made him think. All these questions were now spinning in his mind, "Why, why would you say such a thing Eka? Have you seen something?" Mohlabani stayed where he was, and never once turned round to look at Eka. Eka's lips curled into an evil smile, this was her chance, she could get rid of two troubles and gain what she wanted most in the world. "I didn't ever want you to find out, especially not like this, but you should know. It's not just you that has been betrayed, I have also. I saw her and Swetse together; I've seen them together a lot actually. He's been holding Monmai like he was her father." With a furious swing of his gallant head and a few pads back he was face to face with Eka. Tears had formed in his eyes. "And, and you saw this all? None of this is a lie, promise me Eka! Promise me!" Mohlabani, was in a state, and had fallen to the floor in sobs. "It is true. All of it is true." Eka said with no expression. Mohlabani's state of sadness soon turned to a state of anger, he was furious. "How dare she! How dare she be unfaithful to me! And him! Your so-called mate! When he was a member of this pride he was my best friend! I gave him everything! Thank you Eka. Thank you, you are a dear and faithful family member and you will always be thought of highly."

"I was as distraught as you, but we have to put it behind us. We must move on."

"How? How can I? With her in there and him I can't go on!"

"You can. Our family has always been tough and gotten through everything! Pull yourself together, we will make it! But, it will be hard, with them lurking around here. Should I, you know, dispose of them? I mean it wouldn't be hard with the hunting dogs, and I could bring up Monmai as my own."

"You mean, kill them?"

"Of course, they have betrayed you, you are the leader of this pride, you rule these lands, and you can do whatever you want to anyone who are in these lands."

"You're speaking sense, Eka, please do it, please do it tonight, make the misery go away." Mohlabanis eyes flashed with sorrow and anger as he turned a padded off. "I shall rally the dogs now." Eka replied.

Night came swiftly as Eka and her hunting dogs waited in the bushes for Lotola to approach the watering hole. In the den Mohlabani was getting extremely nervous, and could not control his temper. He approached Lotola with caution, "Lotola, may I hold Monmai for a while? Please?"

"Why? I don't have to go anywhere." Lotola snapped. "Well, she is my cub as well and I could hold her while you go and have a drink at the waterhole, or something."

"I guess you could, and I am thirsty. Ok but be extremely careful with her!" Lotola carefully placed Monmai in Mohlabani's giant paws. Tears formed in Mohlabani's eyes. "I'll hurry back."

"Don't worry."

"Ok, bye."

"Goodbye, Lotola." As he said that shivers went down her spine. Something was wrong, especially his tone of voice, the air was cold, harsh and unwelcoming to her. She felt scared and all alone as the wind blew her fur everywhere. She approached the watering hole cautiously; she could feel eyes burning into her. She was being watched. Lotola looked around her, but could see nothing. She bent down to the water and lapped. Lotola didn't notice the approaching Eka and hunting dogs. Suddenly a painful blow that bowled her over onto her side met Lotola's side. She stared up at the smiling Eka standing over her. "It's over Lotola." Eka smiled. Lotola gasped as Ekas unsheathed paws came down upon her fur, the hunting dogs pinned down Lotola and she was to weak to fight. Eka looked as if she was possessed, her paws kept ripping at Lotolas fur, even long after she was dead. When she was finally finished Eka stepped away from the carcass. "There you go dogs. Eat your fill, but save room since later there will be a nice big male or you to dispose of." Eka cackeled. She let out strong roar, a roar that let Mohlabani know that faze one was complete.

Once the dogs had eaten all they could they set off to find Swetse. Eka had not prepared for the fight against Swetse. In reality Eka couldn't bring herself to kill Swetse, she loved him far too much. She'd gotten too far to let him live though. She padded onwards with her team of dogs, following her every paw print. When they arrived at Swetse's sleeping place she let the dogs carry on with the dirty dead, for she could not bring herself to have anything to do with it. She just stood on a rock near by, and watched. There were plenty of hunting dogs, enough to take Swetse down. "Eka? Eka! What's going on? Eka! Ekaaaaaaa!" Swetse screamed as he was covered with attacking dogs. "You've hurt me far too much Swetse, I just can't let you get away with it. I just can't." Eka whispered into the air, as a single tear fell from her eye. She saw Swetse go down and disappear under the dogs; it was then she knew it was done. Eka padded solemnly away, as she left the dogs to feast on Swetse's carcass. On Ekas way back to the den she passed Lotolas ruins, and winced as she thought back to what she'd done. She just kept telling herself it would be ok just as soon as she got little Monmai in her paws. As she approached the dens entrance she looked down at her paws. They were covered in blood. It didn't matter though; Mohlabani would be the only one awake. Eka stepped into the den and padded up to Mohlabani. "It is done." The words were said in such a whisper that only grasshopper that sat next to her could hear. Mohlabani picked up the limp cub in his mouth and passed her to Eka. He nodded his head at Eka, as she layed down with Monmai and slowly fell asleep.

Eka felt no wrong in what she had done that night. They had it coming, she would think to herself. Eka had no trouble in not feeling guilty for murdering Swetse and Lotola, but what would happen the next day would make go quietly insane. When Eka woke up she saw Mohlabani wasn't in the den. She handed Monmai to a young lioness nearby while she went out to search for him. She had searched all over the plains until she found him by the waterhole. "Mohlabani. What are you doing?"

"Ending it."

"Ending what? You're a bit late for that. It's already over."

"Not that, this. I'm ending my life."

"But, but, why? You've got everything now."

"No Eka. We do not have everything. I will never have Monmai and neither will you. She isn't either of our cubs, and I can't live like this, knowing I killed them out of jealousy. Eka, you may carry on living, it isn't your fault. You were just being faithful. And Eka, for you loyalty you may rule the pride when I am gone, and bring up Monmai and not tell her of this, make sure she knows how to rule for she will take over when you are incapable. Goodbye Eka." Before Eka could stop him he ate some sort of a plant, a poisonous plant. Mohlabani fell to the ground and slowly died. Eka was in such a state of shock she didn't know what to do, she stared in the water at her reflection. All she saw was evil. I killed him. It's my fault, was all Eka could think, she had felt no guilt for the ones she had killed with her own claws, but she felt guilt for killing her own brother, although she had done nothing but played with his mind. "I can get through this, I will not crack, I must be strong for Monmai and for _my _pride." With that Eka walked away, head down and tears trickling from her eyes. As the rain started to pour from the heavens it felt as if the gods were crying for her, crying for the loss of the once innocent and gorgeous lioness called Eka.


End file.
